Chapter 54: A Craven (Patreon)

The spirit hovered beside the woman, ghostly form phasing past the dirtied red hood pulled over her head, attempting to nuzzle her despite the lack of a physical form. The rest of her clothes were in similar states to the hood, white padded dress, belt, dark gloves, and boots all marked by spots of dirt and frayed ends. A single brown satchel sat on the creaking wood of the ruined shack, its flaps open and most of its contents, leather bound books and the like scattered across the ground.

“Aureila…” A mutter left her, the woman raising her head from the ball she’d curled herself into. Her eyes, a striking shade of greenish blue, were bloodshot and her face stained by a mix of dirt and dried blood.

The oddest sense of familiarity filled him as their eyes met.

Marika formed beside him, arms crossed as she gazed down at the woman.

All that familiarity came from her not him.

“Wh-Who are you?” The woman questioned her eyes fully widened. Scratchy and low, her weakened voice held a heavy accent far removed from anyone that he’d cross paths with in this world.

“A traveler. Headed up to Stormveil.” He stated plainly. As the jellyfish shaped spirit rose up, hovering closely to him in an attempt to nuzzle him the way she did the woman, he pointed at it. “This one led me here.”

Her shaky gaze flicked to the spirit than back to him. “Y-You can see her?” At his nod, the tension in her slowly eased away. She chanced a glance past him, finally taking note of Melina who’d opted to remain beside the wooden rotted doorway. “I see. The spirts looks fondly upon you.”

Whatever realization she had, it did the rest of the heavy lifting, much of the suspicion in her gaze gone as her eyes returned to him. She was still guarded, however, legs pulled tightly to her chest. “Were you tempted by the one in the white mask as well? By tales of duty and power?”

“Varre?” She tensed up, curling further into herself at the name’s utter. Seems they’d both crossed paths with the man but unlike him, she must’ve listened to what he had to say. “Met him but I’m heading after the demigod up there for my own reasons.”

“Then you’ve come to join the spider. We did the same.” She said, the tuffs of dirtied blonde hair peaking out from her hood swaying as her head fell away. “My men, they followed me. Believed in me. Can you believe it? A craven like me?’  A low chuckle left her as though she’d told some joke. “I don’t have your confidence. I can’t do as they did.”

“It must hurt, you know. To have your arms cut off. Your head. I-“ Head tucked back into her arms and knees, the woman rambled on about being ripped apart and spiders, her voice shaky than ever. Fear had taken hold of her, pulling her towards the edge of sanity, whatever she was recalling only quickening her descent into madness.

Left alone and she’d soon be nothing more than a shell of herself.

Most of the familiarity might’ve belonged to Marika, but even so, there was something about the woman he couldn’t shake. Her soul, small but potent, reminded him of those practiced in soul magic. Intensely practiced. A soul like that and this pathetic sight in front of him were at odds with one another.

Even as she was, reducing someone like her to this state shouldn’t have been easy. Either this demigod and his primary force up in that castle were really something or there was something else at play here.

“Direct this one to thine’s home.” Marika ordered, their interest in the woman shared. “Her use will become clear with time.” For very different reasons. The woman’s potential aside, she barely looked like she could defend herself let alone attempt to in the first place. If anything crossed paths with her, they wouldn’t have much of a problem killing her.

Which partially explained why she was just sitting around.

Onyx kneeled to her level, raised a finger between them and tapped. A thin barrier, silvery in color, shimmered to life between them, the thing stronger than most he encountered so far.

“Do-Do you wish to make me a part of the spider as well?” She questioned, rambling cut off as she peeked out from her crossed arms. “I’m sorry but I’m not ready. I can’t even bring myself to take a step beyond this ward, you see. Your efforts are wasted on someone like me.”

He raised a brow and pressed his finger against the artificial wall, a drop of mana focused into it.  The blonde jolted, scrambling back as his finger slipped past the silvery energy. A yelp left her as her back hit the other side of the ward drawn around her, Onyx chuckling as he pulled away. A bit mean maybe but them being on the same page should help.

If he wanted her dead, that ward wasn’t going to be enough to stop him.

“She’ll probably end up dead before she gets anywhere close to the island.”  Onyx said.

“The ashes mine daughter bequeathed you. Open its container.” Marika said. A good enough plan he supposed. If anyone could make use of them it would be someone like her.

“Torrent.” As if knowing exactly what they had in mind, as Torrent appeared from his usual cloudy fog he positioned his saddlebags before Onyx. Reaching into them, he found the cold jar quickly enough, the silent blond watching with wide eyes as Torrent faded away.

Onyx popped off the lid of the cloudy jar.

The abnormal coldness left it, gray energy shooting out of it and splitting apart into separate portions. A trio of wolves, each of varying size but all larger than most, took shape with resounding howls. As their howls died down, they lowered their heads, gaze zeroed in on him. They prowled forward, cold ghostly forms brushing around his legs before they turned their attention upon the curled up blond.

They stepped around her ward, and, after experimental sniffs, one by one settled around the frozen woman.

“She has what she needs to survive. Should she fail to make use of them and perish along the journey then she wouldst have been of little use.” Marika said. Favored or not, she was cold when it came to others, her steadfast beliefs unwilling to crumble for anything.

“Back beyond the gatefront and just off the western coast of Limgrave, you’ll spot an island with some ruins on it. If you’re looking for somewhere relatively safe-“ A loud grumble joined the winds shaking the old building. “-and more food-“ Onyx added, reaching into one of his pouches and placing a wrapping of some of the dried salted meat he brought with him in front of her alongside the jar of now powerless ashes. He did the same with his self fashioned waterskin. “-there’ll be caves along the beach that lead to the island. Tell those there that Onyx sent you.”

He stood, turning to join Melina at the doorway, the wood of the shake creaking beneath his steps.

“W-Wait!” She called and he stopped. “Why, who do this? Give aid to a milksop craven like me?”

Marika’s reasons laid in the woman’s possible usefulness and they were somewhat aligned there.  There were some forms of magic he had no talent for, and, no matter how hard he tried, his mana was flat out incapable of performing without specific tools and aids. Magic that a soul like hers would have no trouble with.

“You’re special.” Onyx said while flexing his burnt hand and glancing over his shoulder. Despite being so caught up with him she was effortlessly displaying some form of command over those spirits around her. Right now, she was only urging those willing to gather around her but with time that could change. She was already strengthening them, the wolves and the jellyfish having lost some of their transparency just by being near her.

To be able to strengthen lingering souls with, as far as he could tell, no training…

“I just want to see how special.” He said before leaving the rickety cabin behind.

Even if she didn’t turn out to learn anything useful to him, giving someone like her a chance to grow was worth it as far as he was concerned. That, and learning why Marika felt such familiarity for the girl would be interesting.

Hopefully she survived.

XOXO

With a good month having nearly gone by and the holidays pulling up, me and the boys have just about finished our programming stint. Well those of us who don't intend on pursuing it seriously. I learned a good bit but its not something I'm super invested in at the moment. I'm just glad to have more free time to write. Not jumping back into a schedule or anything, in fact, you'll probably see some experimental things pop in between chapters for this.

Want to try my hand a writing in first person, some shorter form stories, crossover stuff. I'm planning on trying a bunch of stuff while I settle back into the grove of things. Don't want to ruin this story by suddenly changing the vibe just to experiment.

Sorry for keeping you waiting.